The Set Up

The Set Up

In Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes, Fred Weasley had just finished unpacking a shipment, and was heading home for the day when a familiar face could be seen through the front window of the store. Fred quickly exited the store, in order to stop an old roommate from his days at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Ken!" Fred exclaimed, shaking the other young man's hand heartily.

"George?" Kenneth Towler asked, uncertain as to which of the Weasley twins he was speaking with. Even though they were good friends, he still had troubles telling the two twins apart. When Fred laughed and shook his head, Ken grinned and continued. "Fred, then. I had been hoping to run into you today. I have a favour to ask of you."

The two young men walked towards The Leaky Cauldron. Ken had been in the same year as Fred and George at Hogwarts, and they had become close friends as all three of them worked in Diagon Alley. Fred was in the middle of telling Ken an amusing story about his wife, Kera, and their newborn, when they reached their destination.

"So, you mentioned needing a favour?" asked Fred.

"I need you to set me up."

------

About a week later, Lavender Brown could be found leaning on the counter in front of her, her chin resting on the upturned palms of her hands.

She let out a long pitiful sounding sigh.

'Oh I hate this,' she thought to herself.

After graduating from Hogwarts, Lavender had to decide to follow one of the two callings she had been faced with. Unfortunately, her love for shoes, and the prospect of a discount on them, won over the thought of more training. Even if it was for Divination, the subject she had most enjoyed and excelled in at school.

Today, however, she was finding it hard to remember exactly why she had wanted to work in retail.

Her store was located in Diagon Alley, just across from Flourish and Blott's. Although this was a prime location, on a day like today it was no surprise that Lavender had a lack of things to do.

It was the middle of summer; perfect weather for de-Gnoming or impromptu Quidditch matches. It was definitely not a day to go shopping.

'Writing the horoscopes in The Quibbler would be more fulfilling than working here on a day like this.'

She let out another sigh.

Later on, she might reflect that it was the boredom that drove her to extremes, but when the door to her store opened, she vowed to take drastic measures in order to get some excitement into her day.

----

Fred walked into Lavender's store with a huge grin on his face.

"Lavender! It's your favourite Weasley here to say hello!" he said cheerfully.

"Oh? And which Weasley happens to be my favourite today?" Lavender asked. She couldn't help smiling back; the twins had such contagious smiles.

"Why, it's Fred of course! Who else could it possibly be?" He feigned shock, making Lavender laugh even harder. "I've come to claim what you owe me," he continued.

"Claim? What exactly do I owe you for?" Lavender asked suspiciously.

"Let's take a walk down memory lane for a moment. If you will recall a month ago when you were watching Parvati's daughter, and you had to rush out because you had to rush you dog to the vet. Who stepped up and looked after little Faye for you?"

"And who had to explain to Parvati why exactly Faye had been turned into a penguin?" Lavender answered with a question of her own.

"Okay. What about the time you needed someone to look after the store for you yesterday while you ran around to go the shops?"

"What? If I recall correctly, you had fed my boss one of your new Ton Tongue Toffees!" Fred and George's Ton Tongue Toffees had evolved into something that needed a Toffee Tongue Reducer from their store in order to reverse the effects. When Lavender's boss had accidentally eaten one a Ton Tongue Toffee, Fred had refused to go and get the antidote quite yet, claiming he was doing research. Lavender had to rush out of the store in order to get the antidote, and left Fred in charge of the store. Not that it mattered much. It was as quiet yesterday as it was today.

"Right. How about just doing a favour for an old friend then?"

Lavender considered this warily. She knew that anything involving the Weasley twins usually involved some sort of trouble, but they definitely did at a bit of unpredictability to life.

"What do you want me to do?"

----

"Fred, that is not a good idea at all!" Prudence exclaimed, as she poured out boiling water into four mugs. Fred and Kera were visiting George and his wife, Prudence, for coffee the next afternoon.

"That's exactly what I told him, but do you think he listened? Of course not," Kera rolled her eyes.

"It's bloody brilliant," George said coming to his brother's rescue.

"Exactly! Ken broke up with his other half a year ago, and has led quite the celibate life since then." Fred said, with just a little bit of laughter in his tone.

"Though how he manages to keep that up is beyond me." How George and Fred could manage to finish each other's thoughts was completely beyond both of their wives, but they had gotten used to it over the past couple of years.

"But with Lavender? They hardly seem like the right sorts of people for each other," Prudence voiced her concerns. "It's not that I don't like Lavender, she's a lovely person. But Ken's so serious, and Lavender... Well, she isn't."

"Exactly why they would work out perfectly together!" Fred said in a cheerful voice.

Kera and Prudence just exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders. When Fred and George got an idea into their heads, it was hard to change their minds.

----

Lavender considered again why exactly she was doing this favour for Fred. She didn't approve of blind dates, and she hadn't had the best of experiences with guys in the recent past.

But then again, this was just going to be fun, she reminded herself again. This date was not meant to be anything serious.

The Muses were playing on the Wizard's Wireless when Ken apparated into Lavender's front hallway. Her apartment was located just a few blocks from The Leaky Cauldron, which meant she didn't have to apparate to work every day, and could walk on those nicer ones.

"Lavender. I'm Ken. So pleased to meet you." As he said this, he took one of her hands in his, and bent down to kiss it.

Lavender blushed and giggled, as she knew she was expected to. She hadn't been known as one of the girls every guy wanted to date at Hogwarts for nothing. Those days had passed, however, and she had grown up at least a little bit.

"I think I remember you from Hogwarts. You were in Gryffindor too, weren't you?" she asked, gently extracting her hand from his grasp.

"Yes, I thought you looked familiar. I'm surprised I haven't seen you around Diagon Alley in the past year that I've been working at Gringotts. Fred told me that you're working at a store in there."

About a half hour later, Lavender and Ken were sitting in a small café, eating desserts and drinking tea.

"So Ken, how is it that a guy like you is actually single?" Lavender asked. She found, contrary to her original anxiety towards the date, that she was enjoying the date with Ken very much. He wasn't a bad looking guy, he was funny, and he was a friend of the Weasleys. (And everyone knew that if you were a friend of the Weasleys, you were a good guy.)

He laughed bitterly. This was the first sign that Lavender got that he wasn't perfectly contented. "I broke up with the girl I thought I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with, I guess it was about a year ago. I haven't really had the desire to meet anyone knew until now." As Ken took a sip of his tea, his eyes momentarily got a far away look in them. "But enough about me," he continued, snapping out of his reverie. "I was slightly worried about asking Fred to set me up, but it seems he's done a pretty good job. Why are you still single?"

"What, who said anything about being single? Didn't Fred tell you? I see a different guy every night," Lavender said jokingly. When Ken got an almost guarded look on his face, she laughed nervously. "It was a joke." After a pause where Ken relaxed, she continued, "I've had bad luck with guys recently. I guess I've given up on romance for the time being."

"Well, then what a pair we make," Ken laughed.

----

After Ken dropped Lavender off at her apartment that evening, Lavender reflected on the date. He wasn't someone that Lavender would normally consider dating, but it had been a good evening.

At her front door, he had bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek, and then whispered in her ear, "Thank you for a lovely evening. Let's do this again soon."

Lavender blushed, not because she knew it was what he expected, but because for the first time in a long time she was actually looking forward to a second date with Ken.

She smiled at herself in the mirror before walking to the fireplace to Floo Parvati.

----

"Well, Fred. I'm surprised," Ken said to Fred a couple of days later. I hadn't expected it to go that well."

"What? Ye of little faith!" Fred exclaimed.

"I was desperate. Why else would I have trusted you to set me up?" Ken asked in jest. Well, partially in jest at any rate.

Fred smiled to himself. The way he figured it, both Lavender and Ken had been more than grateful for the set-up. He'd keep that in mind next time he needed a favour - mainly more test subjects for new products for Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.